The Mehlville Fire Protection District Board of Directors voted unanimously last week to issue a request for proposals for an employment consultant to perform a management audit and cultural analysis of the district.

Board members are seeking an employment consultant with experience in emergency services. Proposals are due at 2 p.m. Friday, June 13, and will be opened at 4 p.m. that day during a board meeting in the Conference Room at the district’s headquarters, 11020 Mueller Road.

“We intend on hiring someone at that meeting,” Board of Directors Chairman Aaron Hilmer told the Call.

The board in April initiated an investigation into “workplace intimidation and harassment” and Hilmer said the board’s decision to hire an employment consultant is related to the probe, which is continuing.

“… This is what spurred us on to do it. As we uncovered some rocks and saw what was underneath them, we realized we had to change the entire culture,” he said.

Bob Strinni, president of Mehlville Local 1889 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, criticized the eight-day time period to respond to the request for proposals for an employment consultant and termed the board’s investigation “a witch hunt.”

“… I’m kind of confused,” Strinni said. “In your paper, I guess a month previous, four to six weeks ago, he (Hilmer) bragged when he gave the chief (Jim Silvernail) an extension and what a great job he’s done and all this stuff. And now four, six weeks later, we’ve got all these problems. Based on what? You’re going to do an RFP? You’re doing an RFP for a week? Where’d you advertise that?

“It wasn’t in the Post that I could see, so (if) history repeats itself, I’m sure it’s going to be a crony or somebody that he knows and they’re going to basically tell him exactly what he wants to hear. And I have no idea what that’s going to be, but they brag about the (rescue) squad having three people. They took the third person off the squad.

“For what reason? That, to me, is a cut in service. It’s definitely a safety concern for us because we have one less person now on a first alarm, on a commercial fire, a house fire, a car accident. We have one less person now on the scene. For what reason?

“Like I said, just four to six weeks ago he bragged about having three people on the squad and what a great job the chief’s done, and now he keeps throwing that word safety out, safety out. Well, what are the safety concerns? We put a request in to the chief to sit with him over the safety concerns and we have got no response back yet. I want to know what they are because as far as we know, there isn’t any except the fact that we have 35 people here with less than three years on the job. So we got new people training new people …,” he added.

Of the investigation, Strinni said, “… I want to watch what I say because naturally I feel that they’re trying to come after people wrongfully and I think it’s my personal opinion that it’s a witch hunt …”

The union president also contended the board did not follow proper procedures for the investigation as outlined in the district’s Employee Manual of Policies and Procedures, or EMoPP.

“They definitely didn’t follow their own EMoPP when they’re doing this investigation,” he said. “That’s for sure … I mean if you look at that thing, they sure didn’t follow it and they wrote it. We didn’t have anything to do with it.”

The Board of Directors voted unanimously in an April 22 open session to adopt a resolution stating an investigation has been initiated “into personnel issues pertaining to workplace intimidation and harassment … Each and every employee of the Mehlville Fire Protection District shall comply with said investigation. If not, each employee may face discipline up to and including termination.”

Board members also voted unanimously April 22 to hire Metro Security to assist in the investigation at a cost of $75 per hour.

During an April 22 closed session, board members voted unanimously to suspend two employees with pay pending the outcome of the investigation. Regarding the April 22 vote, Mathew Hoffman, the fire district’s legal counsel, declined to release the names of the two employees, saying no final action has been taken by the board regarding the employees.

During a May 8 closed session, board members voted unanimously to suspend two employees without pay pending the outcome of the investigation. The names of the two employees were not released by the district because no final action has been taken by the board.

Based on Hoffman’s advice, Hilmer again told the Call that he could not say whether the two employees suspended without pay May 8 are the same two employees who were suspended with pay April 22 or are two different employees.

Regarding the management audit and cultural analysis the board wants the employment consultant to perform, Hilmer said, “A couple things we’re looking at is looking at creating a culture change. We want to promote a safe, positive work environment. We want to establish a chain of command. The district must run from the top down, not from the bottom up. One thing we would like the consultant to really look at is especially focus on people who hold the rank of captain. We want to ensure that they’re running their firehouse in a proper manner.

“Obviously, the reason we’re hiring someone is to help give suggestions that we can then implement. We’re saddened we have to hire a professional to do this. We’re disturbed that we have to waste any time or money on it, but it’s become apparent that professional help is needed to fix this problem,” the board chairman said. “One thing that I would like to tell the consultant is we hope to give every employee the opportunity — even anonymously if they feel more comfortable or safer — to give their ideas or suggestions to help create a better fire district. And I think that’s going to be important that this is something we’re going to hopefully give everyone the chance to do that.

“The board feels the vast majority of employees are interested in promoting a positive, safe work environment to serve the residents and we look forward to working with them to take the district forward. However, if you are one of the handful of employees who wish to foment an unsafe, hostile work environment with your self-serving bad attitude, this is your opportunity to change that because if you don’t, no further tax dollars will be spent on you,” Hilmer said.

He said he expects the investigation to be completed soon.

“The investigation is concluding. We’ll be wrapping it up in a couple weeks,” Hilmer said.